Talking USA Q10 launch with BlackBerry COO, Kristian Tear [Video]

June 5th was another milestone day in the global rollout of BlackBerry 10, with the full-qwerty BlackBerry Q10 officially becoming available in the USA.

To help spread the word, BlackBerry's Chief Operating Officer Kristian Tear was in New York City yesterday talking to the media, and we had the chance to sit down with him and ask him a few questions. With BlackBerry in their quiet period leading up to earnings at the end of this month we kept the scope of the conversation to the Q10 launch (no talking sales numbers, etc).

Be sure to watch the video interview above as we talk about the Q10, the demand for it from loyal BlackBerry fans, and its support from both carriers and enterprises. For those who can't watch the video (you really should!), keep reading for some of the highlights.

On demand for the BlackBerry Q10...

I asked Kristian the infamous Z10 or Q10? question straight up, to which he replied that he currently was using the Z10, but he made it clear that this is the phone *soo many* BlackBerry users have been waiting for:

"A lot of people have been waiting for this device. This is what the BlackBerry lovers have been really, really looking forward to. And it is a fantastic experience, the best of the best, and only from BlackBerry. There is really nobody else who can provide that experience with full touch and with a great, best keyboard."

I've always felt that the competition has simply conceded the keyboard market to BlackBerry, and this was a sentiment that Kristian shared as well:

"If you look at the QWERTY market as an addressable market, this is our market. This is our space. It builds on our credibility. It builds on something only we can offer."

Demand for the Q10 extends into enterprises too of course, where there has been a pent up demand for BES 10.1 services and the new BlackBerry Q10 to launch:

"60% of all Fortune 500 companies are testing, have ordered or are piloting as we speak."

Bottom line, the Q10 is a solid phone and it's going to be a solid seller for BlackBerry over the months ahead with the people who have been waiting for it.

On carrier support...

BlackBerry is clearly happy that they have the support from all four major US carriers, and that they are launching the device at (roughly) the same time and at a price point that appeals to both enterprise and consumers:

"What we are proud and pleased about is that the US carriers are launching it at the $199.99 price point (T-Mobile at $99), which is a consumer price point as well. Carriers are expressing their support - there is a lot of training, a lot of collaboration."

And with all four carriers launching at the same time, you're now going to see exposure, advertising and marketing ramp up in the US.

On launch timing...

Following up on our editorial earlier this week regarding the timing of Q10 launch (so many CrackBerry readers we're expecting/hoping it would land in May), I asked Kristian who's to blame in terms of the Q10 not landing even sooner in the USA:

"BlackBerry always has an interest in rolling out the phones as fast as possible across the globe."

While those in the US have had to wait among the longest to have the chance to get their hands on the Q10, looking at the rollout globally BlackBerry is doing well. According to Kristian, BlackBerry achieved 255 T.A.s (technical acceptances by 255 carriers) in record time. Comparing the Z10 to Q10 rollouts, they have even improved, compressing the launch time windows across markets. Different carriers have different requirements for testing the phones on their networks, etc. So while Kristian didn't come out and directly blame the US carriers for taking longer here to get things approved here, that was still my takeaway. As far as the Q10 hardware goes, it's ready. Things just seem to be taking a little longer in the US. The good news is that the Q10 is finally in the US - that wait is over.

BlackBerry was my first love but the bottom line is the iPhone is the American phone of choice. Apps get updated faster on iPhone, OS updates are done by Apple. I found it very disappointing waiting for Verizon to release the next update for my BB. As much I would l like to come back to BB I don't want to compromise for less.

My IT department is stating they would have to buy a new server to run BES10, they are being wooed by Telus who are pushing Galaxy S4 and giving them S4's to try for free. I am trying to push BB10 advantages but its tuff when providers push Android (Probably due to margins - I don't know). Any input that can help me better understand what is really required for companies to switch BB10 is appreciated.

So, no real answer on the US launch delay, just ambiguous deflection toward fulfilling carrier requirements and a specious argument about taking it in context of the global launch (gee, mom, I'm failing math but look how good I'm doing in art class!).

At least the g-d damn phone is finally available. Being an AT&T user, I have to wait another week and change, to take advantage of their smartphone trade-in promo.

Kevin is all excited that he saw ONE Q10 in NYC. I don't know who does market research for BlackBerry in the USA, but the brand is in trouble and I doubt people in the USA are waiting for a physical keyboard. BBRY may own the market, but it is because no other OEM cares to go after such a small market. The big screen phones is what people want, even in Canada. The Aristo should have been the second USA phone, if not the first. Any QWERTY device should have had more screen real-estate, even if it meant using the Aristo body. My brother in Canada just bought a Galaxy S4, even after I gave him a PlayBook. Had the PB been running OS 10 he might have gotten a Z10, after playing with OS 10 first hand. He says he likes android better. All of my talk about OS 10 was not enough. BBRY Marketing is still a very weak link from research to advertising. He is a stock broker with a boutique clientele. You'd think he would feel more secure with a BlackBerry. Many brokers steer clear of BBRY stock. This is, I believe, mainly because of the misinformation they see out there and the lack of communication or correction by BBRY Marketing with on point ad campaigns. Cute jinlge music advertising says nothing about product differentiation/information that matters to people. Clarity is required on what makes OS10 OS 10! This is where the ads need to focus--especially in the USA where BBRY is not APPL and should not have APPL type cute ads. Heck even APPL can properly spend 30 seconds differentiating its product, the IPhone:

Even looking at the minute plus ad in my link above, captions should be placed on the bottom of the frames displaying the key new OS 10 features:1)Time Shift, 2) Balance, 3)Flick Typing, 4) HUB. The captions can easily run under the ad to define the features that no one else offers. Make full use of the screen real-estate. Most people are visual "learners" so define these four key differentiators in captions using a few key words. As an example, what is time shift, we see it in the ad, but would not recognize it as a feature of OS 10 unless we have used OS10. So, as the kid begins to appear start defining time shift in a caption: "Time shift allows multiple frames of a picture in time to recreate the perfect photo" so that when we see the time shift in action image we know what we are looking at.

We always come back to blaming the carriers but i really believe it was Blackberry who decided to give the US carriers a delayed launch. If it came to the US carriers first, it would have flopped and it would have negatively impacted the company. By seeing it launch on Blackberry friendly countries first, it built up hype to keep the nay-sayers at bay. Nice strategy

I don't think the marketing will ramp up until they get to the point they are producing enough Q10's to satisfy existing demand. Why waste money marketing and getting people in the stores if there is no product to sell. Right now, apparently, everyone is fighting for allocation of Q10's. Really seems to be a hot selling phone.

F Blackberry. I watched Blackberry Live 3 weeks ago and all the carriers were going to get the Q10 late summer except for Verizon getting in June. I bought an HTC One, (which is a beautiful phone BTW) once I heard the terrible news. Now they are all getting the phone around this same time? Still unspecified. I played with the phone at T-Mobile yesterday; and I honestly miss that keyboard....Thor first said May launch in U.S., Then June to late summer, then all the sudden it's on one carrier, to pre-order on the other 3??? Love the product, however the company is notoriously terrible at launching their phones. Now what do I do with this HTC One? And yes, "I am Mad Bro".

I would have watched the video if the camera wasn't focusing on Kevin all the time. Seems like he is the point of interest which his partner is instead. Secondly I have problems understanding both of them. Clip-on microphones would have done the trick.

At 1:23 into the video, he says that the Q10 will launch for all four carriers for preorder next week. He included Sprint in the list. He did not say 'later this summer'. He said next week. Is this an official announcement or a slip-up on his part?

Well the Z10 is in the latest Ad from AT&T that is in regular circulation promoting their current half price when your trade in your old smart phone sale.

Hope the advertizing ramps up for BlackBerry now that the Z10 is launching in the USA as it's slowed allot from the launch of the Z10.

Also really hope that there are actually allot of BlackBerry users in the USA that are waiting on this phone as BlackBerry is on the precipice of irrelevance in the consumer market in the USA and needs a strong device launch to get people's attention back in their direction.

Personally, I think the vital product for BlackBerry in the USA will be the Aristo though. The 5"+ touchscreen segment is on fire in the USA and that is the product they really need to get right and market the hell out of this holiday season.

I think there will be some and maybe a lot of negative blow back from all of us who used our upgrade only to have a much better phone released less than eight months later. Glad they keep moving forward but they need to stop poking their loyal customers in the eyes

I agree, from what he is saying, it seems it's Blackberry, not the US carriers. On other note, I am wondering if Blackberry has any American in its top management? I think they need someone from the states in their top management since it's their biggest market. It will probably also help Blackberry in getting positive media coverage or at least less bashing.

No they don't ... the last 2 American representatives did NOTHING good for BlackBerry. They need executives that are globally focused ... no 1 country is an island upon which a corporation like BlackBerry can depend solely on. Users need to stop thinking locally.

US carriers have a lot more going on with their network towers than any other carrier globally:
USA carriers are the ONLY carriers that continually get threats from their users to destroy their equipment that is deployed publicly (towers, GGSN/HLR nodes, etc).
USA carriers are the ONLY carriers that deploy towers in the form of cactii, cattle, trees, etc!!!
^ due to these there are a lot of augmentations done to these pieces of equipment, many are non standard ... T-Mobile was famous for a HUGE error of using IMEI authentication to restrict use of a specific APN - recall the HP iPaq 6400 launch?! I do because I worked in Tier2 (outsourced) for support of smartphones and seeing 10 calls in the queue jump to 640 in less than 5seconds when the switch was turned on for this ... and grow to over 10'000 - the phones couldn't display more than those digits over the course of 5 weeks ... I enjoyed working 12hr shifts with 4hrs break and another 10hr shift for each weekend. Many providers in the USA do other such unique adjustments to their networks that cause longer wait times.

What I want to for the qwerty is a bigger screen. 3.5-3.6 inch screen, upgrade all the specs, but the screen needs to get bigger. I will sacrifice a little one hand operation efficiency, for the larger display. This will be a great device, and BB needs to go there next year. Keep it high end, great build quality, great materials. BB needs to take it up a few levels, and keep pushing the iconic qwerty. This device will bring back the former BB users

I wonder if Kevin asked him about 10.1 for the z-10...I would reaally like to know what the delay is...if it was just Verizon, I would understand as it takes them so much longer than the rest but none of the us carriers have released it...

Cheadley1, I was wondering exactly the same thing. I felt that was one of the most important questions that needed to be asked. Especially, if followers of your very own site have been constantly asking about it.

hmm do you read the news? the design is better then most phones out there BTW.. mann why do we let people like this on the site? have no idea what their talking about.. but i guess that's what the internet is.. a place for a bunch of idiots to come and speak nonsense and then never show up again..

You can't even compare the Q10 to the Playbook. The PB has a great OS but it was rushed missing important feature until it got update much later as well as no app ecosystem. The Q10 on the other hand is what the majority of loyal BB users have been waiting for. It's designed very well and it's running the new BB 10 platform with a pretty good app ecosystem to support it. This is BlackBerry's bread and butter for the time being. It won't flop!!!

Productivity measure by BlackBerry is sooo much more than emails, calls and text:
Shared Drive access (Word/Excel/PowerPoint document access and modifications)
SharePoint Access & enterprise collaboration of documents/services (more of the above due to versioning implementation).
inter-office communications platform - MS Lync, MVS for internal PBX deployments (VOIP),
VPN Access - if required (mostly not due to BES doing this natively).
And now Presentation - PowerPoint slides (externally) and notes (internally on device for the presenter to see only).

What you've stated is so 1990, this is the modern world for productivity.

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